Is 'Good' the New 'Bad'?

One thing weve tried hard not to do, is tell you guys how to suck eggs. Even though theres been heaps of interesting (and possibly relevant) ideas weve come across that we would have liked to share with you over the past few months, weve tried to stick to the news about whats going on around town and leave it at that. But it turns out some of our most popular stories have been opinions about whats going on philosophically in the industry. Like with our recent cowardly clients article. So weve decided well throw in a hopefully idea provoking story every now and then to get your juices flowing.

Today we want to float the idea that good is the new bad. Its an idea we came across recently and it really struck a chord. It's a similar view to one we heard about a million years ago at an advertising creativity conference in Melbourne when the speaker explained how great was great and that, funnily and paradoxically enough, shit could also be great - because great and shit cut through and get noticed. And that the worst place your marketing could be was somewhere in the invisible middle. While were not about to advocate doing shit work, (or that bad is the new good), theres no question those annoying ads cut through and work - at least on one level. OK, so maybe the long term brand building component of yellavision ads aint great... But these days, if you dont get the til ringing in the short term, there aint gonna be no long term.

Now, back to good being bad. Were pretty sure youll agree amazing is a good thing. Amazing products, and amazing advertising and marketing, tends to get noticed and talked about. They also tend to be effective. But theres a theory that says the opposite of amazing, isnt necessarily terrible, its good, quite good, rather good and even really good.

If you fly somewhere tomorrow (presumably on a plane, otherwise thatd be amazing indeed) and they get you there in one piece and whats more, on time, wed all agree thats pretty darn good. But you dont tell anyone about it cause thats what airlines are bloody well supposed to do! Now, if your flight is absolutely horrible, or unbelievably good (eg they were early, you got upgraded and/or you joined the mile high club), now then youre likely to talk about it. And thats what great marketing is all about.

Good things of any variety are hardly worth mentioning. They come and go. That goes for the products and services we promote, as well as the promotions we create. Regardless of what part of the process you work on (from product development or refinement through to pack design or advertising), maybe its time we stopped for a second, and had a really good think about what it is were doing. No, 'amazing' doesnt come along every day. Nor is it necessarily easy to create. Its rarity and un-average-ness (yes, we just made that word up) is, we suppose, part of what makes it amazing in the first place. But as one of our favourite authors (who weve ripped off shamelessly, or shall we more generously say been inspired by in this article) Seth Godin asks: Are you making good stuff? Well how fast can you stop?

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